Brazil: the remains of British journalist Dom Phillips formally identified
British journalist Dom Phillips, right, and a Yanomami native in the village of Maloca Papiu, Roraima state, Brazil, in November 2019. AP - Joao Laet
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There is no longer any doubt, the human remains discovered in the Amazon a few days ago are indeed those of the British journalist Dom Phillips.
He was killed with the Brazilian expert on indigenous peoples in the Amazon, during an expedition near the border with Peru.
The two men had received death threats before leaving for the mission.
According to the police, the killers would have acted alone, without sponsors.
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It was thanks to a dental examination that the body, or at least what remains of it, of Dom Phillips was identified.
The British journalist, passionate about the Amazon and living in Brazil for fifteen years, was shot dead with his friend Bruno Pereira, an activist for the defense of the rights of indigenous peoples.
Their bodies were dismembered and buried.
One of the two suspects arrested by the police, a fisherman, admitted having buried them himself.
Illegal fishing often controlled by drug traffickers
According to the police, everything suggests that the killers acted alone, without sponsors, without a criminal organization behind these murders.
A version rejected by the Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley.
According to this association, the two arrested suspects, two brothers, are part of an organized group that planned the crime down to the smallest detail.
Whoever says he buried the bodies would be involved in illegal fishing activities, activities that the murdered Brazilian activist Bruno Pereira was about to denounce in a report.
In this secluded region on the borders with Peru and Colombia, illegal fishing of endangered species is often controlled by drug traffickers.
They use the sale of fish to launder drug money.
► To read also:
Brazil: the death of Bruno Pereira and Dom Phillips confirmed, wave of indignation in the country
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